The present invention generally relates to a board made from cores, and more particularly to cores used to accommodate a roll of paper in manufacturing paper products.
In producing commercial paper products, large paper rolls are shipped in locomotive rails cars to paper processing plants. In general, the center of the paper rolls contain a 10-foot long xe2x80x9celongated tubular corexe2x80x9d made of liner paper much like a tube found in a toilet tissue roll or a tube in wrapping paper. In the large paper rolls, the typical tubular core is five inches in diameter having about a one-half inch wall thickness. The paper processing plants use the paper rolls as input material for processing machines that produce a variety of paper products for the residential and commercial markets. In processing, the paper is unwound from the elongated tubular core of the respective paper roll and the core is typically discarded in a landfill after use.
In the past, a core board machine included a pneumatic press in which tubular cores where flattened between two compression plates. Core board was produced by manually placing a core between a stationary plate and a movable plate, which extended towards the stationary plate to flatten the core. The movable plate retracted and one or two cores were manually placed between the plates and flattened against the first core. While the moveable plate was extended, an operator manually positioned a screw gun to fasten several screws into the compressed cores to hold them together. The machine was labor intensive, had limited ability to produce a large quantity of core board product, and was expensive to manufacture.
Core board has been used as a packing material to protect large paper rolls from damage during transport in rail cars. However, there is a risk that the pointed end of the screws may protrude through the compressed cores and tear the paper rolls during shipment in the rail cars. Further, the screws can have a reduced fastening performance by loosening overtime. Accordingly, there was a need to prevent separation of the compressed cores so that the performance was consistent for the purpose of a packing material. Since the search is always on for improved products and lower costs, there is a particular need for an apparatus and a method of producing an improved core board product.
Briefly, the present invention improves the art by providing an advanced core board forming apparatus, a method of making core board product and a core board product.
According to one aspect of the invention, a core board forming apparatus includes a feeding apparatus having a discharge portion for discharging a tubular core. A compression apparatus has a compression surface and a flattening surface movable together to flatten the tubular core. A conveying portion supports the tubular core at an interim location between the compression surface and the flattening surface in an uncompressed condition and releases the tubular core to the flattening surface when the compression surface and flattening surface move together to a closed position. A controller unit is configured to control the feeding apparatus and the compression apparatus. In this way, tubular cores are positioned by the conveying portion to substantially align and form a consistent core board product.
In a second aspect of the invention, a dispensing apparatus includes a device for detecting tubular cores at a predetermined dispensing position for sequentially dispensing each of the cores. A compression apparatus has a compression member for substantially flattening each of the dispensed tubular cores and a plurality of pivotable members configured to retain each of the dispensed cores below the compression member for conveyance to a flattening plate upon downward contact with the compression member. A processor unit is configured to execute computer readable code for controlling the dispensing apparatus and the compression apparatus.
In a third aspect of the invention, a method of making core board product is under the control of a processing unit. A first tubular core is dispensed to a conveying portion to support the first tubular core at an interim location. The first tubular core is conveyed to a flattening position under pressure of a compression member. The first tubular core is substantially compressed between the compression member and a flattening surface. The steps of dispensing, conveying, compressing is repeated for at least a second tubular core. The second tubular is substantially compressing core against the first tubular core. Then the substantially compressed first tubular core and second tubular core are fastened together in an abutting relationship with a plurality of fastening members so as to form the core board product.
A first tubular core is dispensed to a conveying portion above a compression surface. The first tubular core is conveyed under downward pressure to the compression surface after detecting the presence of the first tubular core on the conveying portion. The first tubular core is substantially compressed on the compression surface. The steps of dispensing, conveying, compressing is preformed for at least a second tubular core in which during the step of compressing the compressed first tubular core and second tubular core are fastened with a plurality of fastening members so as to form the core board product.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, a core board product includes at least two substantially flattened tubular paper cores fastened together by a plurality of fastening members, the fastening members each has a first fastening portion contacting against only one of flattened cores and two second fastening portions extending through the flattened cores substantially perpendicular to the first fastening portion. In this way, the core board product prevents tearing abutting paper rolls during transportation.